Tatum and White Sign Massive New Deals as the Celtics Look to Repeat!
The Celtics are jumping into the offseason by resigning Jayson Tatum and Derrick White to long-term deals after winning their first NBA Finals since 2008. Jayson Tatum got a supermax extension signing a five-year contract for $314 million, making Tatum the highest-paid player in the NBA surpassing his fellow teammate Jaylen Brown. Derrick White got a massive deal himself for four years at $126 million. These two signings are massive Celtics as they seem to have created and retained an unstoppable team that will be contending for a championship for the foreseeable future.
Coming into this offseason, it was expected that Tatum would get a new deal as he has been the face of the franchise ever since getting drafted by the team back in 2017. Despite Tatum’s prolific career already in the NBA, he has drawn lots of criticism for not being able to become the bonafide star on the team as he can at times be outshined by Jaylen Brown and others in big moments, especially in the playoffs. Even with this past Finals win, Tatum at times struggled to find his shot and he had to increasingly depend on his teammates to win, which only made the critics grow stronger in their convictions. Despite all of this criticism, Tatum still averaged 25 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists in these playoffs, which is very impressive given how much he was dedicated to getting all of his teammates involved in the postseason. The Celtics know that Tatum will only continue to grow and develop into a generational player in the league so getting this deal done was paramount to the success of this franchise moving forward.
For Derrick White, this extension signifies just how important the Celtics view his contributions to them winning in the future. Although he may be the fourth or even fifth-best option on the Celtics' starting lineup, on any other team he would be the second-best option which just speaks volumes about the vast depth of talented players the Celtics have assembled in Boston. This made him a likely trade candidate this offseason as many believed it would be unlikely that the Celtics could retain their entire starting lineup given the salaries everyone is demanding for the next few years. Despite that, the Celtics are clearly dedicated to winning and have absolutely no regard for the NBA’s soft salary cap and its restrictions because they believe this is the core that will take them back to the NBA Finals next year. White in these playoffs played a critical role at times averaging 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, and one block a game while shooting over 40% from three.
The Celtics have already allocated about $254 million in player salaries with $198 million of that being to only the Celtics starting five heading into next year. This type of spending has never been seen in the NBA and the owners have made it clear that they have no intention of actually making money from owning the Celtics through revenues, but instead plan to make money based on the evaluation of the Celtics increasing through winning championships. Additionally, the Celtics are counting on the NBA’s salary cap to increase dramatically with a new TV deal about to be made. With the Celtics keeping the band together heading into the next few years, they should have an amazing combination of shooting ability and defensive intensity that easily makes them the favorite to win it all again next year.
